Mary Anne BOOKS it - A BSC 10 YEAR REUNION SPINOFF 3
by MissHWrites
Summary: Mary Anne's life ended up just as everyone could have predicted. She still lives in Stoneybrook, is married and has a job at the library..but something has been bothering her lately that has her questioning her life choices and she doesn't know what to do..
1. Chapter 1

"So we keep all of the returned books here on this shelf. Now before you check out any book, you need to scan their student ID first and wait for their name to pop up. THEN you can go ahead and scan the book."

Mary Anne then pointed to the corner of the screen, under the student name and said, "but look here first. This section shows if there is anything overdue or any balances owed. Whenever you check out a book, pay close attention to that, ok?"

Casey, the new student employee replied, "ok."

Mary Anne continued on and said, "Ok. It's clear. So now go ahead and click on the check out button. Casey did so and Mary Anne said, "Perfect. Now we just wait for the print out..." and the checkout info printed on piece of paper before she ripped it from the printer and said to the student as she handed it to him along with the book, "Ok you're all set."

"Thanks a lot," he said before walking away.

Casey then said to Mary Anne, "Well that's easy enough."

"Yeah, there's not too much to it. So I'll do a few more checkouts and then I'll let you go ahead and man the front. Is that alright?" asked Mary Anne.

"Sounds good," she answered.

Mary Anne Carnahan (formerly Spier) was spending part of her work day training the new student employee. She seemed nice enough and was picking things up quickly so it was making the process easier, but nobody would compare to Charlotte Johanssen, her previous student employee, longtime friend and former babysitting charge. Mary Anne missed her company but Charlotte had graduated the previous June and was now in Texas at a cancer research hospital to start her career as a doctor. Mary Anne decided to leave Casey alone at the desk and put away a cart full of books before walking around to all the desks to make sure the computers were working. Those were the typical daily duties of her job and that day, she was definitely on auto pilot because before she knew it she was sitting in her car, ready to leave work.

"How did that day go by so fast?" thought Mary Anne.

Those kind of days had been happening a lot lately and it seemed like one day was just melting into the other. Mary Anne had a strong passion for what she did for a living so these feelings were certainly unusual. At least she had a nice evening with her husband to look forward to and she intended on talking to him about it and hey, at least it was Friday. Now she wouldn't have to think about work for two days.


	2. Chapter 2

After dinner, Mary Anne and her husband Jackson sat on the couch together to watch a movie. They were about 20 minutes into it before he asked her, "So what do you want to do this weekend?"

"I'm not really sure," replied Mary Anne. "I mean, there's nothing I NEED to do."

"Didn't you say you wanted honeysuckle?" he asked.

Recalling a conversation they had earlier in the week about adding some more plants to their backyard garden, Mary Anne said, "Oh yeah. Yes, a trip to the nursery sounds nice."

"That's pretty boring, though. Anything else you'd like to do?" he asked.

"I can't really think of anything else," she replied.

Jackson said, "Well, I was actually thinking of something kind of fun that a few people were talking about at work today."

"Oh yeah? What's that?" asked Mary Anne.

"Since you and I are both TRYING to exercise more, I was thinking about going on a hike at a place called 'Devil's Den.' It's about 40 minutes away. I heard the hiking trail isn't too strenuous and the weather is going to be nice. What do you say?" he asked.

Knowing exactly the place Jackson was talking about, she perked up at the idea and excitedly said "Sure! That sounds great!"

"It's settled then," he said. "It'll be fun. Beautiful scenery, exercise and an afternoon with my beautiful wife," he said as he smiled at her.

She smiled back before excusing herself to the restroom. As she finished up washing her hands, she looked at herself in the mirror, shook her head and muttered quietly to herself, "A trip to the nursery. I sure know know how to have fun, don't I?"

If it weren't for Jackson's idea, she'd be sitting around all weekend doing nothing except plant a flower or two. Chickening out on mentioning to her husband that she was feeling frustrated and bored at work, she just went back to join him on the couch to finish watching the movie and thought to herself, "Maybe tomorrow."


	3. Chapter 3

"I'm so sorry," said Mary Anne as she coughed loudly. "I just can't come in. I dont want to risk getting anyone else sick."

Her supervisor replied, "Don't apologize. You never call out so you must be really sick." She coughed again before saying, "Yes. I really am."

"Take tomorrow off too. Get some rest and get yourself well. We'll make sure the library is in good hands," her male supervisor replied.

"Thanks," said Mary Anne. "I'll see you on Wednesday. Bye."

She could count on one hand how many times she had ever called out sick from her job but that Monday, she just couldn't bring herself to go to work. She actually had a great time at the nursery with her husband, getting her honeysuckle and a new baby rosebush, which made a very nice addition to her already beautiful garden, and despite the aches in her thighs and calves, the scenic hike she took with Jackson proved to be an amazing day but those distractions couldn't help her once Monday rolled around.

With not a whole lot to do with her day, Mary Anne sat on the couch for a bit an watched TV before getting bored and switched to her phone for a few rounds of Candy Crush before that novelty wore off as well. Phone still in hand, she could only think of one logical solution to her boredom and scrolled down to the "K" section of her phone. She could always count on her best friend, Kristy to get her out of her rut. She made sure to ring her on her office phone so she knew her call would be answered.

"Human resources. Kristen Thomas speaking."

"Well hello, KrisTEN," said Mary Anne.

A slightly surprised Kristy answered back, "Oh. Hey, bestie. Whatcha doing calling this number?"

"I didn't want to text you," she answered back. "I wanted to talk."

Kristy replied, "Ok. Well, I have a few minutes but then I gotta get back to work. What's up?"

"You aren't going to believe this," Mary Anne started, "but I called out sick today."

"YOU?" asked Kristy. "Um..ARE you sick?"

"Nope," she replied. "Not all all. I just needed a day off. Have lunch with me? Please? I'm bored."

Still a bit taken aback at Mary Anne skipping out on work, Kristy answered, "Oh yes. Of course we can do lunch. Do you want to come here? We can eat in the cafe here on the first floor."

"Yeah. Anywhere is fine with me," said Mary Anne.

"Um, just one request..if that's ok?" asked Kristy.

"Sure," said Mary Anne. "What is it?"

"Can Cokie come along?"


	4. Chapter 4

In a matter of just a few hours, Mary Anne found herself eating a salad with Kristy and her former middle and high school classmate Cokie Mason, who worked in the same building. Kristy looked professional as always in her work clothes and had let her hair grow out a bit over the past year. That day, she had it pulled back into a sleek bun. Cokie looked nice too, her shoulder length brown hair set in loose waves and was wearing ankle-length black pants with black high heels and paired it with a flowy black button up blouse.

She asked Cokie, "So how are things with you?"

Cokie answered, "They're good. Just getting through the days here earning my paycheck but the event planning is definitely picking up. I think I may be able to do it full time within the next 6 months and be able to leave this job."

Genuinely happy for Cokie and her new business venture, Mary Anne said, "Well you certainly know how to throw a good party. That reunion was great. Beautifully decorated too."

Cokie looked at Kristy and said, "it's all because of this girl right here. I would have never had had the confidence to start my own business if she hadn't encouraged me that I was actually good at something."

Kristy blushed but didn't say anything. Still, Mary Anne looked at her best friend with such adoration and was happy that Kristy could move past her rivalry with Cokie and become her good friend.

"So what kind of events have you done so far?" she asked.

"Well, so far I've planned a baby shower, did a Bar Mitzvah two weeks ago and a wedding a little over a month ago," answered Cokie.

Surprised that Cokie had done a wedding, Mary Anne said "Wow. A wedding? That's a big deal."

Cokie answered solemnly " No no. Actually, the wedding was a very small garden event. Plus, the couple ended up being really disappointed with my flower centerpieces so I was a bit bummed out by that."

"You live and learn," interjected Kristy.

Cokie sighed and said, "I know. I'm sure in time, practice will make perfect."

Kristy said, "So anyway, why in the world are you here with us right now? I gotta admit that I was pretty surprised by your phone call."

Mary Anne replied "Honestly, Kris? I just didn't want to go in. I had a great weekend, nothing is wrong but for some reason, I just couldn't bring myself to go into work today."

"I get it. You've been doing the same thing forever. I don't think it's that unusual to get burned out every once in a while," said Kristy.

"Do you ever feel that way?" asked Mary Anne.

"Of course I do. There are plenty of days when I don't like my job," replied Kristy.

"Same here. I get annoyed and burned out by my job and I've been here less than two years," said Cokie.

"So how do you you deal?" asked Mary Anne. "I can't shake it."

"Um, I try to always get out of the office for lunch, take a few breaks during the day to get some fresh air. Plus, I go on vacation two weeks a year, remember?"

"Yeah.." sighed Mary Anne.

"You're just in a rut. It's normal. You'll get over it," said Kristy.

"You definitely could use a vacation," said Cokie. "When was the last time you actually went anywhere fun?"

She thought for a minute before she realized how long it had been. "The last time was when I went to California for Stacey's wedding," she said.

Kristy scoffed and said, "yeah, and that was only for two days."

Cokie looked at Kristy and said "I think we need to show this girl a good time, Kris."

"Totally!" exclaimed Kristy. "We should do a weekend trip. THIS weekend. Why don't we take the train to NYC? Leave Friday night, get a hotel and spend all of Saturday being tacky tourists. We can come back Sunday afternoon."

"Um ok," Mary Anne replied softly.

"Nope, not just 'ok.' How about a 'YES?,' please?"

She sighed and said, "Ok, girls. You win. Let's go."

Cokie smiled at Mary Anne and then said, "Something my Mom always told me, especially after I moved back here and was going through my divorce and all that other stuff is that 'this too, shall pass'."

As she drove home, she thought, "I hope so."

Hopefully this girls weekend to The Big Apple was just the ticket.


	5. Chapter 5

Two weeks had passed since Mary Anne, Kristy and Cokie had spent the day in New York and they had a fabulous time, shopping, being silly, taking pictures and eating unhealthy food from street vendors but, much like her hike with Jackson, it was only a distraction and she was back to being bummed out, burned out and not wanting to be at work. Kristy sensed that something was still bothering Mary Anne so she arranged to take both her and Cokie to another girls day and get pampered at the salon where they all got their hair and makeup done for their high school reunion the year before.

"I love your house, Mary Anne. This is adorable. Very rustic," said Cokie.

"Thanks," said Mary Anne. "It's been quite the process, though. This place was practically falling apart when we bought it. We've put a lot of time and money into making this old place like new..but still LOOK old."

"Well, you guys did a great job," said Cokie as her eyes moved from side to side, looking all around Mary Anne's house before her eyes stopped at the flowers on the kitchen table.

"Mary Anne! This is so pretty!" she squealed as she lifted up the vase and looked at it more closely. "Where did you buy this?" she asked.

Surprised, Mary Anne replied, "Oh, I didn't buy that. Those are just flowers from my back yard. They grow like crazy so I cut flowers every Sunday and stick them on the table."

"Her garden is really pretty," said Kristy. "Smells amazing too."

"I didn't know you were into gardening," said Cokie.

"Yeah, I enjoy it. Gardening, knitting, crafts. I'm pretty much just an old lady trapped inside a young lady's body," joked Mary Anne.

Cokie sighed and said, "Man, if I had arranged something like this for that wedding I did..I'm sure they would have been much happier. You need to show me how to put together flowers. Can you do that sometime?"

"Um, I'm not really sure what there is to show.." said Mary Anne as her voice drifted off. "I guess you can just watch me do it?"

Cokie clapped her hands together and said, "Thank You!"

"Alright, old ladies," joked Kristy. "You want to stand here talking about flowers or do you want to go get pampered?"

Four hours later, feeling calmer and much more relaxed, Mary Anne strolled through her front door and was greeted by her husband.

"Ooh la la. Look at you, sexy," said Mary Anne's husband as she arrived back home after her spa day.

"Oh, stop," said Mary Anne.

"You might get pregnant tonight" joked Jackson as he looked at Mary Anne's made up face and her hair, wavy and full of volume. "Honey, you look gorgeous. Did you have fun with the girls?" he asked.

"I really did," she said truthfully.

Feeling like it was a now or never moment for her, Mary Anne decided that since she had his full attention, she'd come clean about everything that was bothering her.

"Wow," said Jackson after patiently listening to her for almost 30 minutes straight. "I just wish you would have told me sooner."

"I'm sorry, honey. I just didn't want to talk about it but lately I've just been feeling like there's something missing in my life. I don't know WHAT it is but I just can't shake the feeling," she said.

Jackson stammered a bit before saying "umm..d..d..do you think you might want to..? I dunno. Try for a baby? Is that what you think is missing, honey?"

Not even remotely ready for kids, she answered, "No, honey. I'm not there yet. I'm sorry."

He breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Oh, thank goodness. Me neither."

"I just don't want to go to work anymore. I miss Charlotte terribly but more than that, I'm losing my passion for it," she said.

Jackson put his hand on Mary Anne's cheek and said to her, "I don't think it's that strange. I mean, you've done it forever. It's normal to get bored."

Mary Anne sighed and tried to fight the tears welling up in her eyes before saying, "it's more than me being bored. I just..I don't want to do it anymore. I don't want to do it but I really don't know how to do anything else. Being a librarian is my whole life."

Jackson also sighed before telling her, "Well, life is a journey. Maybe it's time for a change. You should go talk to someone."

"What..like a therapist?" asked Mary Anne defensively.

"No, honey. Like Kristy. Or Dawn? Your Dad?" he answered.

"Yeah, I suppose I could do that," she said. "I guess it won't do me any good to keep this bottled up inside."

Jackson said "I'm sure all of them would have great advice for you."

That night, as Jackson happily snoozed next to her in bed, Mary Anne was wide awake and staring at the ceiling. Sure, his idea of talking to friends was well-intentioned but she knew her initial thought of talking to a therapist was probably what she really needed.


	6. Chapter 6

The first therapy session had left Mary Anne feeling discouraged because all she did was talk a little of her childhood and current day to day things, not delving into what her real issues were. Still, she decided to attend another session with the therapist, a lady named Stephanie, because Mary Anne actually liked her and she found herself in her office again 2 weeks later. Luckily for her, the conversation had turned to where she was hoping it would:

"So you're bored with your job, and you don't want to be there anymore. Is there anything you'd LIKE to do instead?" asked Stephanie.

She answered back, "That's the thing. I don't know of any other job I'd like to do. I don't really know how to do any other kind of work."

"Ok. Well what type of things are you good at?" Stephanie asked.

Mary Anne sighed and said, "being a librarian."

"Hey, you stop that," retorted Stephanie . "Now come on. Tell me what else interests you. Do you like art? Movies? Exercising?"

Mary Anne replied, "Well, I do like working on craft projects. I knit quite a bit and I enjoy gardening. I actually got a compliment on my flowers the other day."

"Well that's nice..and see? You ARE good at other things besides being a librarian," said the therapist before she continued on. "Now can you use these skills for something else? Having a creative mind is useful for many different types of jobs. Plus, it's never too late try try something new."

Mary Anne left her session feeling a lot better than she did after the first one but it would obviously take a while for her to get over her funk. She knew she couldn't leave her job and start a new career at her age and she hoped seeing a therapist would teach her skills to help her cope with it.

As she walked into her kitchen, she was surprised with dinner already on the table that her husband had cooked for her.

Mary Anne clasped her hands together and shrieked, " Oh my gosh, honey! What is this?"

Jackson replied, "it's just spaghetti. You're the cook around here but I figured I couldn't really mess up spaghetti."

"This is very sweet of you. Thank you," she said as she sat down at the table to eat dinner with her husband.

He asked her, "So how did it go? Better?"

"Actually, yeah. I opened up a bit more. She was asking me about my hobbies, what I'm good at and how I can-"

Just then her phone started buzzing.

"Hold on a sec," she told her husband and looked at her phone. Cokie Mason was calling, prompting her to say, "what the..?" but she answered anyway.

"Hey Cokie. What's going on?" she asked.

"Hey Mary Anne. I'm sorry to bother you but I could really use your help," replied Cokie.

Surprised, she asked "My help?"

"Yes. Well first of all, I have some great news!" she stated.

"What's that?" asked Mary Anne.

"I got another party planning job," answered Cokie.

"Oh? Well that's nice," said a somewhat confused Mary Anne, who quickly thought to herself, "why is she telling me this?"

Cokie carried on, "It's this weekend. A baby shower."

"Um, ok. Well that's great, Cokie. Congrats on that," said Mary Anne.

Cokie sighed loudly and said "Mary ANNE! I need you to help me."

"Help? With what?" she asked.

"Help me with the flowers! Remember when we talked about it at your house?" asked Cokie.

"Well, you just said your party is this weekend. When will you have time to come over and do that if you have a party to plan?" asked Mary Anne.

"No, silly," giggled Cokie. "YOU are going to come to this party and help me make centerpieces."

"What?!" cried Mary Anne. "No, Cokie. I can't do that. I'm not a planner."

"I'm not asking you to plan the party!" exclaimed Cokie. "I just need your expertise. Do you have any plans this Saturday?"

"Well, no not really but -"

"Then can you please help me?" begged Cokie. "I'm at a loss. I can't afford to screw up again."

Jackson gave Mary Anne a confused look and mouthed "what's going on?"

Remembering what she had discussed with the therapist earlier that evening and going over some of the things she was good at, she pondered for a sec that maybe it wouldn't hurt to channel her boredom and frustration into something pretty and positive. Plus, Cokie seemed desperate so she quickly changed her mind and said, "Fine. I'll help you."

Cokie squealed with delight and said, "REALLY? Oh my gosh! Thank you! We have to go to the flower shop as soon as it opens. 9am. Can you meet me there?"

"Sure, I can do that," replied Mary Anne.

After hanging up the phone, Jackson looked at Mary Anne and asked, "so what was that all about?"

"Well," said Mary Anne. "Cokie needs my help."


	7. Chapter 7

"So they want pink lilies and violets," said Cokie.

"Pink lilies and violets?" asked Mary Anne. "Those don't go together at all."

Cokie sighed and said "Yeah, I looked at them and I agree but the client is having twin girls and naming them 'Lily' and 'Violet' so we have to use them."

"Ok then. Well, I guess the best thing to do is just bring all these colors together," and she got to work. Lacking the skills to put together the bouquet, Cokie just sat and watched.

In no time, Mary Anne created a beautiful arrangement, with the pink and white lillies and the dark purple violets and yellow and white baby's breath filling in the gaps. The white matched the lilies and the yellow matched the middle of the violets and a few pink roses brought the pinks together and, unable to find a purple flower that could match, Mary Anne was able to find purple vases to put the arrangement in, tying everything together and making them beautiful and cohesive.

"I knew you would be able to do it!" squeaked Cokie, barely able to contain her excitement. After paying for everything and bringing the handfuls of flowers back to the restaurant where the shower was to be held, they both got to work putting everything together. Mary Anne was impressed that while Cokie couldn't pick the flowers, she could at least put together a decent arrangement.

After their work was finished, the two of them stood back and looked at what they did.

"I think it's absolutely perfect," stated Cokie.

As Mary Anne looked around the room, she disagreed. The flowers looked great but the tables still didn't look nice enough and thought the confetti sprinkled on the tables looked tacky. It reminded her of what Cokie did to the tables at the reunion. While that was ok for that kind of party, it didn't seem to fit the look of the room and her normal shy self suddenly took a backseat as she blurted out "I don't like the tables."

"WHAT?! Why?" cried Cokie.

"Im so sorry, Cokie. I didn't mean..I shouldn't have.." Mary Anne stammered.

"It's ok, it's ok," insisted Cokie. "Tell me what's wrong."

After she voiced her opinion, Cokie shook her head and said, "Oh my gosh! You're right. What do we do now?"

Mary Anne looked for a second and thought of her table at home. She's always loved candles and typically had one or two on her table along with the flowers so she said, "a few candles would be perfect. Right?"

"Good call," stated Cokie. Luckily, the restaurant had a nice supply of floating candles with tall holders so they set a few on each table after using Mary Anne's lint roller to clear up all the confetti.

"I think everyone will love it," said Mary Anne. Before she left to go home, Cokie gave her a big hug and said, "you really are very talented. Thank you so much."

Driving home, Mary Anne felt better than she had in the past few months. It felt good to be appreciated, especially from her former enemy, Cokie.


	8. Chapter 8

Mary Anne sat at the library counter, staring at the text she had just received from Cokie:

"They LOVED it!"

She replied back, "That's great! I'm glad I could help."

"I got another job because of it too. A lady at the party is throwing a baby shower for her sister next month and she liked what I did so much that she wants me to do hers! It's for a boy." Cokie texted.

A little excitement stirred up in Mary Anne as she secretly hoped Cokie would ask for her help again but after waiting around all day for an additional text, it never came.

"Oh well," she thought. "Back to the grind."

The days began to roll by again and Mary Anne kept busy continuing to go to her therapy appointments, hanging out with Kristy and spending time with her husband, including going on another hike at Devil's Den and just trying her best to do her job properly and keep a positive attitude. After not being in contact for almost 3 weeks, Mary Anne was suddenly caught off guard by another phone call from Cokie, asking for more help.

Surprised, Mary Anne said, "I thought you were doing this one on your own."

"Of course I wanted your help! There just wasn't much of a point of bugging you about it any earlier," stated Cokie.

Rather than do it last minute like the last one, Mary Anne and Cokie had an entire week to get everything ready, deciding on a simpler arrangement with light and dark blue flowers in clear vases atop light blue tablecloths. As they sat together in Mary Anne's living room, Cokie crudely sketched on a piece of paper, a basic idea of what the tables would look like and it was clear something was missing. The vases were tall and skinny and Mary Anne thought something needed to be stacked in front of them. Not candles this time but..something.

"What else?" asked Cokie. "What would work for a baby?"

Mary Anne thought to herself the same thing before saying out loud a few times, "baby..hmm..baby.." Just then, the idea came to her and she shouted, "BABY! That's it!"

"Huh?" asked Cokie.

"Baby! The Baby-Sitters Club!" she shouted again.

Cokie gave Mary Anne a strange look before asking, "What are you talking about?"

"The logo!" she said.

"I'm sorry, I still don't get it," replied Cokie.

Thinking back to the logo that her old friend Claudia Kishi had drawn up so many years ago, the name of their baby-sitting business spelled out in baby blocks on the flyers they always passed around town.

"Blue baby blocks," said Mary Anne. "We'll get baby blocks, put them in a stack in front of the flowers."

"That would be so cool. What about BIGA ones? We can make them! We can go to the craft store and just get foam squares or something? We can just print out 'A B and C' on paper and glue them on there. They won't be too heavy and that way, we can just throw them away afterwards," said Cokie.

Mary Anne had it in her head to use classic wooden baby blocks but after listening to what Cokie suggested, she agreed that it was actually a much better idea than hers so she agreed.

One week later, there they were waiting for the guest to arrive. Before the first person showed up, they both gave the room a quick once over and decided it was absolutely perfect. This time, Mary Anne decided to stick around for all the fun.

They were both proven right as the guests had a great time, and Cokie received several compliments on her decorations. As Mary Anne was helping her clean up, Cokie said to her, "I really appreciate your help."

She replied, "Don't mention it. It was fun and honestly, it's been nice to get out of the house and do something to keep my mind off of work. I'm still bored there."

"That's great, Mary Anne. I feel like our creative minds really connect," said Cokie.

Mary Anne thought for a second before saying "you know what? They really did."

Cokie took a deep breath and said "Listen. I've been thinking a lot about it after the first shower and..I'm really glad we've become friends, especially after everything I did to you in school."

"It's ok Cokie. You've changed a lot," she said with a wink. "I really enjoy your company. I'm glad were friends too."

"I need to show you something," she said as she pulled out a piece of paper from her purse and unfolded it. It was a check made out to Cokie for $2000 dollars.

"Whoa!" Mary Anne gasped. "That's how much people pay for these things?"

"Yup. That much money for just about 3 hours work too," she replied.

"Well at the rate you're going, you'll be able to leave your day job in no time," said Mary Anne.

"Well..maybe longer," Cokie said.

"You think so?" asked Mary Anne.

"I want you to have half of this."

"WHAT? Oh no, Cokie. I can't," replied Mary Anne.

"Seriously," said Cokie. "You saved my ass. This party would have sucked without your help. The other one too. I was really questioning myself after screwing up on that wedding but you gave me confidence. Please, take half of this."

Mary Anne stammered, "Um..I.."

"Take it," she insisted.

She sighed and said, "but your son, I know you need it."

"Mary Anne, I live with my parents, my son goes to public school and I DO bring home a steady paycheck, remember?There will be more jobs for me. For me AND you."

"What?" asked Mary Anne.

Cokie said "Come work with me, Mary Anne. Be my partner."

"Cokie.."

"Seriously. You have a gift. You have an eye for beautiful things. I mean, so do I, but I feel like I excel on the fun part of the planning. You are great with colors, arrangements and our ideas put together have been phenomenal. We'd make a great team."

As they parted ways in the parking lot, the last thing Cokie said to her before getting in her car was, "Call me. Soon."

As soon as she arrived home and pulled into the garage, she called Kristy.


	9. Chapter 9

"I can't believe this. WOW!" said Kristy.

"What do you think?" asked Mary Anne.

"Well, it's definitely different. You'd be stepping out of your comfort zone, and it will take some some getting used to. You need to understand that it will be very overwhelming for you at first. You may have a lot of doubt or regret too. A lot of people have those issues when they start a new job. Trust me, I see it ALL the time," said Kristy.

"Yeah, I know. My emotions are already getting to me and I haven't even made a decision yet," said Mary Anne before adding, "plus, the money is so sporadic. What if I don't get paid for a month?"

Kristy answered, "Well yes, that's something you'll need to consider as well."

"I don't think I can afford to lose my paycheck," said Mary Anne.

"Well, your remodeling is done, your car is paid for..and don't forget that I work with your husband and process the paychecks. I know how much he makes. Obviously you'll need to talk to him and figure out a way to budget..but honestly, I think you guys would be alright," said Kristy.

"I'm at a loss. I'm so confused..I'm just..I'm so overwhelmed,' Mary Anne stated as she began to cry.

Kristy sighed and said, "Oh, hon, it's ok. Please don't cry."

With Mary Anne now just sobbing, Kristy continued on and said, "Well I can't tell you what to do, Mary Anne. This decision is entirely up to you. Normally I tell people to think with their heads but..in this case, I think you need to go with your heart. You haven't been happy at your job for a while but you've stayed there because it's what you know and you need a paycheck, which I understand..but this? This may be your only ticket out. I'm listening to you talk and you say you're unsure and 'blah, blah, blah' but you've been my best friend forever and I can read you like - "

"Like a..book?" interrupted Mary Anne, realizing the significance of that comment. Then she asked Kristy, "so?"

"I think you know the answer, Mary Anne," answered Kristy.

"I think I do too," she said before adding, "alright, well I gotta call Dawn. Can I talk to you later?"

"Of course. Tell Dawn I said hello," said Kristy.

After retelling the whole story to stepsister, and taking almost an hour to do so, she got a very similar reaction from Dawn that she did from Kristy, along with a lot of encouragement. Not for one choice or the other but just to trust her gut and to do what was best for HER. Before ending the call, Mary Anne asked her, "hey, have you talked to Sharon? I don't bring anything up when we talk."

"Yeah, she finally started taking my calls," answered Dawn. "Of course she is still mad at me for skipping out on Jeff's wedding and not taking the time to see her and Richard while they were in town, but she is definitely understanding my point of view now."

"Oh, that's good."

After ending the call with an "I love you sis," she was eager to finally get out her car, out of that stuffy garage and back in the house.

Before entering, she took a deep breath. Now it was time to have a long chat with the one person who mattered the most to her, although she already knew his answer would be the same as hers.

Then after that? It was time to call Cokie.


	10. Chapter 10

The "GOODBYE, MARY ANNE" banner that hung in the staff lunchroom made her eyes well up with tears and and she was truly touched by how many people showed up to bid her farewell. From the loud chatter in the room, and endless amount of hugs and people saying goodbye, to the potluck's huge spread of food and desserts brought in by all the administrative faculty, she wasnt sure how to process all this sensory overload and her head began to hurt from holding in the tears.

Still, Mary Anne was still the head librarian for the next few hours and had a job to do so she went about her last day as professionally as she could but obviously her mind was somewhere else. She couldn't believe what was happening to her. Here she was, leaving her job on a whim and going into the party planning business. Going into business with COKIE MASON, of all people. The person who had made her life miserable and had stolen her first love away, yet this was the direction she had decided to go and despite what Kristy had told her, she wasn't feeling any regrets.

This was the start of something good and new. A new job, a new friendship blossoming both personally and professionally and for the first time in a long time, Mary Anne was excited about the future.

As she carried a big box containing all of her things, she walked out of the library and off of Stoneybrook University's campus for the last time. She had spent the last 12 years of her life on that campus and while it had become home to her, she decided not to look back at it and instead, just drove away and for the first time that day, she was unable to shed a tear.

The quiet, timid, emotional and always predictable Mary Anne Spier had found her new place and it now, it was HER time to shine.


	11. Chapter 11

THE END


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